Good Advice from Camden Town

Apparently the UK government warned of petrol shortages. A pub in Camden Town spoofed the recent run on petrol stations.

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Those who cannot be trusted to act on clear and concise verbal orders...

The Imperial War Museum has an exhibit dedicated to Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, who in addition to being the greatest British Army Officer of the 20th century, was clearly outspoken. I second his opinion here.

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Photo by Lyra, Salisbury Cathedral

Lyra (6) started using my old Canon G10 on this trip. I was not expecting much, but she has shown a surprising eye for interesting photos. Still quite a few deletes, but then that is true for me as well. She did a great job Monday at Stonehenge, Avebury and Salisbury Cathedral.

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Lyra on the Swing, Princess Diana Playground, Kensington Gardens

This is the best playground we have ever visited. There is a large pirate ship, slides, teepees, sandbox, tunnels, and wonderful plants and flowers. Only open to adults who are escorted by children 12 or under.

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Lyra Doing Her Best Imitation of Priority Luggage

Lyra loves to sit on the little ledge above the luggage spot on the tube.

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Matilda was Awesome! Hope it comes to the States soon

We read the book to Lyra to catch her up. Although the play takes serious liberties with the story, none of it is objectionable and the cast is great, full of incredibly talented kids? And Miss Trunchbull is dead on. She really does pear to throw Amanda Thripp into the playground by her pigtails!

/Cathleen

www.thephelpsfamily.blogspot.com
www.givingfullcircle.org
www.arlingtonchildrenschorus.org

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The Guard is starting to change over!

Love the music, very festive! You couldn't pay me to wear that hat though. I wonder how much they weigh.

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Yesterday's adventure included Avebury Henge, Stone Henge and Salisbury Cathedral.

London Day 2: Tube adventure and the London Eye

Today we took the Tube to the Camden markets, went shopping and ate chocolate covered bananas (well, not me...who'd have thought my hatred of bananas would be good for my diet?) Eva bought presents for her friends and couple of things for herself. We are out of practice on the Tube and had to do unplanned line transfer to get to Waterloo on the way to the London Eye. but we did it without losing any children.  Lyra is enjoying playing photographer but Bill will post some her her photos later.  She has now learned not to cut people's heads off.  

The London Eye opened since we were here last and it was a lot of fun.  The view was gorgeous.  They sure do have their yield management down to a science. You can pay extra for your own car or to not have to wait in line or to combine the Eye with other attractions.  We went the econo route though since there were so many of us and itworked out just fine.  We taxied back to our flat and had take out (you guessed it) Italian food in the flat that is our home this week.  I am experimenting with the washer/dryer.  The wash is fine but the dry? Stay tuned....

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Photos London Day 1 - so hard to do this without my normal tech set up!

I'd better get the hang of it before tomorrow or I will just be in a bad mood.

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London Day 1: Jet Lag with Children is Brutal but rallied for Hunger Games Opening!

Arrived without incident but boy were we tired.  Melatonin didn't help for the plane maybe we need to take it for longer to see eftects. Our flat is cute and in a great location. There is a little park 2 blocks from here,much to Lyra's delight. Unfortunately, it turns out finding Eva-Safe food here is not as easy as I thought it would be.  The health food craze has hit the Uk so there's a lot more yummy food than when I was here last but lots of it has nuts and seeds in it.  We will be eating a lot of Italian food.  See Lyra crashed out on the table and Eva plugged into her book. After dinner, the big kids had a second wind and we went to see the Hunger Games.  It was crowded but not like I bet it was in the US. I thought the movie was quite good and I usually hate movies of books I've read.  If you've seen it, tell me what you thought!

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Lyra's learning about money and it's cracking me up!

I told her if she could count the change in my wallet then she could have it.  She got her book about money to be sure she was doing it right and went to work.  Shortly, she came back with a penny. 

Lyra: This is a penny, right?
Me: That's right, Lyra. 
Lyra: It's worth one cent, right?
Me: Yes, one cent.
Lyra: So if I have 19 pennies, then I have 19 cents.
Me: That's right! 
Lyra: Do I get to keep it since I counted it?
Yes, that was our deal. 

So this is the best part......Lyra gets this big smile and says "I am on my way to being RICH!"  She ran back to count the rest of the money and successfully earned $1.11 from my change purse.

Ohmygosh it was so cute and funny! I didn't have the heart to tell her she had a long way to go to being rich. Time to replenish my change before I need to feed a meter.

Posted via email from Cathleen Phelps